Man Does Not Live By Keyboard Shortcuts Alone
May 8th, 2007 by Luc-Eric - Viewed 17580 times - Popularity: 53% [?]Someone asked me if by having the Qwerty Interaction Model in XSI, XSI was beginning to loose its Design Philosophy. I think the answer is no, XSI’s Design Philosophy is not which keyboard shortcuts you use. The Design Philosophy are items such as workflows based on clusters, having all main features visible in the top-level menus, how picking sessions work, modeless inspectors, how the Scene Explorer shows you everything that’s going on, etc. It isn’t whether manipulating the camera is on ‘Z’, ‘O’, ‘P’, or the Alt key.
What we’re more comfortable with eventually ends up being what we’ve learned first. In some cases XSI keys have been preserved in the Qwerty keymap. For example, if you’re used to pressing ‘8’ to open the Scene Explorer, it’s available on Ctrl+8 in the Qwerty keymap. The Model isn’t meant to fool anyone into thinking that they’re using M***, but it’s convenient for many users coming from M*** and M*x. It’s also convenient for us because we can experiment with a few changes in there without affecting the majority of XSI.
Now that said, the Qwerty Interaction Model changes the current keyboard mapping AND a few user preferences.
The biggest thing is changing the keying method to ‘Key All Keyable’. Keyable parameters are a very good thing, but keying them is not on by default in XSI. In this case, I’ll agree: focusing on keyable parameters instead of marked parameter and marking sets is an evolution of the Design Philosophy of XSI. We are not doing this only for the purpose of the Qwerty Interaction Model. Keyable Parameters are cool because they can help us simplify the user interface, for example by limiting the numbers of viewing filters. And yep, we have decided to name these animation parameters the same name that another application is using.
What Qwerty Interaction Model changes (compared to the “Softimage|XSI” model) :
Keymap is set to “Qwerty Keymap”
Save Key Command is set to “Key all keyable”
Camera Tool User Preferences
- Mouse Mapping is set to Alternate (orbit, pan, zoom)
- Use Alt Key is set to On
Transform Tool User Preferences
- “Click Outside Manipulator” is set to “Select Tool”
- “Show Selected Manipuators only during interaction” is on
- “Transform Hidden Objects” is on
- “Modify Object Pivot” is on
Selection Tool User Preferences
- “Click to Deselect” is on
- Rectangle Select: “Surround Polygons” is off
Display Options
- “Headlights” is on
Animation Editor
- “Selected Mode” is on
- “Prevent Movement on LMB” is on
- “Translate on MMB” is on (it’s also on in the XSI mode in 6.0)
Popularity: 53% [?]
And thanks a lot for that! For people switching back and forth between M*** and XSI it’s a great thing, keying on keyable, alternate camera etc.. keeps me sane and happy.
One thing I miss is virtual slider on MMB.
Personally I use all these settings (minus modify object pivot) but with standard XSI keymap.
Had to remap S key in M*** though :)
Hi and thanks for the insight…One question:
Is there a way to mimic the zoom function with the mouse scroll in XSI, like in M**A ?
Thanks!!!!
Antonio.
I just wanted to say that I’ve now switched to one of those waffle keyboards and am very happy with the result. It hs turned my tendncy to spill sweet sticky substnces onto my work surfce from n nnoyance into positive boon. Th only ifficulty coms hn I n t u om function tht’ mpp to ky tht i’v llray ten. Thi h ctully h poitiv ffct in tht i m forc to xplor om of th ltrntiv intrction option of xi.
Gavin “Pass the syrup” Scott
In short, I agree. ‘Design Philosophy’ and camera manipulation via ‘Z’, ‘O’, ‘P’, or the Alt key (otherwise known as ‘camera / user navigation’ are indeed separate entities. The navigation side of things is in my opinion more or less ‘work flow’ related, and can be somewhat confused with ‘design’ issues. The reality is that those two elements are not one and the same. Some can argue that navigation is part of the grand design of things, and to a certain extent, they would be correct.
But to use website construction as an example, one can look at a website and see it has a nice overall design to it. But in reality, there is two big elements that are mutually beneficial to each other, yet totally separate. ‘Content’ (read: the xhtml code and images for example), and ‘presentation’ (the CSS that should now be used instead of tables for layout / presentation). The same goes for navigation versus design. Navigation quite simply involves user manipulated cameras for example, while design encompassed what Luc-Eric has mentioned: how picking sessions work, modeless inspectors, how the Scene Explorer shows you everything that’s going on, etc.
Norm
P.S Does this forum actually sensor words like Max or Maya? Or does some people here just have an intense Autodesk phobia?
I removed the name M*** and M** from the article, because Google Ad Sense was offering deals on M*** around my article…